Pvt schools recognised by MCDs hike fees without sanction: PIL

The Delhi High Court today sought the response of the AAP government on a PIL alleging that MCD- recognised private schools which were given concessional land on several conditions, were violating rules by hiking fees without prior sanction.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar issued notice to the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government and the municipal bodies and sought their replies on the issues raised in the petition, which also claimed that most private schools had not submitted their annual returns.
The petitioner NGO also alleged that in some cases, the schools were filing returns of the society which runs them and in others, unaudited accounts were being filed.

The NGO, Justice for All, has said that under the Delhi School Education Act and Rules, every school has to file its annual returns, which have to be audited first by the Directorate of Education (DoE) and then the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG).
"The respondents (Delhi government and civic bodies) have completely failed to ensure the audit of the accounts of any of the schools and the schools continue to exploit the parents without any check and balance," the PIL, filed through advocate Khagesh Jha, said.
The petition has sought directions to the Delhi government and the municipal bodies to ensure that schools recognised by the civic authorities and located on concessional land given by DDA shall not raise their fees without prior permission of DoE.

It has sought directions to the all the authorities to ensure that schools under their jurisdiction submit the proposed fee statements for each academic session before its commencement and that these are duly audited.